Author: Julia Bell
Release Date: January 2008
Publisher: Young Picador
Page amount: 192, UK hardcover
First line: 'When I wake up, she is gone'
Synopsis...
Hope Tasker, an upper-class girl from Britain, is sick of her petty friends and distracted parents. She just wants to be free, to have fun, to live a little. So when she meets a mysterious foreigner named Natasha, something tells her that this could be her way out of her mundane life.
Except Natasha is really Oksana, an impoverished girl from Russia, who was tricked into being sold into sexual slavery as a way to support her family. Oksana, far from being Hope’s way out, is instead a trap that lures Hope into an international prostitution ring. The two girls soon realize that if they are ever going to escape, they must learn to find enough common ground to work together—and to trust each other.
Told in authentic alternating narratives, Dirty Work will immediately draw readers in to the shocking world of human trafficking, and proves that the issue is not only prevalent in today’s world, but that it could be happening right under our very own noses.
Except Natasha is really Oksana, an impoverished girl from Russia, who was tricked into being sold into sexual slavery as a way to support her family. Oksana, far from being Hope’s way out, is instead a trap that lures Hope into an international prostitution ring. The two girls soon realize that if they are ever going to escape, they must learn to find enough common ground to work together—and to trust each other.
Told in authentic alternating narratives, Dirty Work will immediately draw readers in to the shocking world of human trafficking, and proves that the issue is not only prevalent in today’s world, but that it could be happening right under our very own noses.
Review...
This book made me have a sudden realisation since the situation going on in this book is real, it's happening right now, anywhere. The novel opened my eyes to a world that I would rather ignore, frankly, it disturbed me. I grew so attached to Hope's character and felt soooo sorry for Natasha (Oskana), the characters are well described but I felt that the writing style wasn't very good and I couldn't get into this book to start with. The first couple of chapters aren't completely gripping but half way through I got hooked and couldn't stop. Since this book is so short, once you get pulled in, you can't put it down until you've finished the last page. I admit, I did skip a couple of chapters by Natasha because it went off topic sometimes, for example, sometimes Natasha just wrote chapters on end about her brother in Russia and it had nothing to do with the storyline and what was happening there and then in the plot, not relevant at all really. All in all, characters described well, settings and surroundings were easily interpreted but the writing style wasn't for me and hard to get into, I score this book 2.5/5 C-
